Found
by Watching Eternity
Summary: Sequel to "Lost." Arthur has to recover, but a sudden relapse causes Merlin to have to venture into Arthur's mind. How does Arthur deal with his death?


**Sequel to Lost. DISCLAIMER: DO NOT OWN. Hope you like it!**

Found.

"Damn it Arthur, sit down!"

Merlin was sitting in Gaius' room only hours after his Prince had died. He had _died_, and now he was trying to stand in front of Merlin with his sword drawn at the guards now marching into the room followed by the King.

It flashed past Merlin's eyes every few moments: _Dead eyes opened, Guards ordered to seize him, blood on a sword being torn from the crowd by a livid king, a shout and blast of power before he and the prince had vanished._ It was surprising to Merlin that it had taken Uther so long to find them. He was happy that he had enough time to make sure Arthur wouldn't relapse. He had poured every horrible concoction he could find down Arthur's throat as he lay on the bed and spluttered.

It was dark now as Arthur swayed weakly on his feet waving his sword as threatingly as he could at his father.

"Arthur, you will move," Uther commanded. Arthur spat at him and stood up as straight as he could. Merlin braced his arm and tried to push him towards the bed. Come on, the man was dead only a short while ago and now he was trying to take on twenty or thirty odd men.

"Father, you seem to have a serious memory problem. I _died_ for Merlin. I died for the man you are blatantly trying to _murder_," Arthur swayed as his face grew red with rage. Merlin shoved him a little back to the bed, but the only managed to get him to lean on the bed post. Well, it was better than just standing there, watching the color slowly draining from his face. Uther refused too look away from his son's eyes, refused to stand down. Camelot had _laws_ that had to be obeyed. Laws that applied to everyone no matter what they did or who they were.

"Arthur, he is a warlock. He has practiced magic, he _has_ to die. There is not other use for him other than tinder," Uther sneered. Arthur's back went stiff and he stepped towards his father, all rage and hatred and bridled up intensions. Merlin took a step towards him to be met by guards with pikes.

"You _really_ don't want to get between me and Arthur." Merlin threat was whispered as his eyes flashed gold. The soldiers looked at each other nervously before taking a shaking step away. Merlin followed Arthur and watched anxiously for any sign of imminent danger. Arthur had his sword pointed directly at his father who looked too outraged to speak.

"You even _try_ to kill him and your death will soon follow," He swore fervently. He showed no weakness, in fact, if Merlin hadn't seen it with his own eyes he would have never had known that only that morning the steel grey sky had lit on Arthur's dead body. His back was straight and his eyes blazed as he stared down at his father.

"You would kill your father and king for a servant and wizard?" Uther asked incredulously. He couldn't imagine that kind of betrayal and disloyalty, never mind from his own son! Arthur nodded seriously as he reached behind him for Merlin's hand. Merlin felt very reassured when his hand slipped into Arthur's warm palm. It was firm and left no impression on Merlin that what the prince was saying wasn't a lie or not within his powers. Arthur _would _kill Uther if he touched Merlin.

"Right now, Uther Pendragon, his life is far outweighing in worth to me than yours." Uther's face went purple with rage. "How dare—" he started to say when Arthur's arm wavered and his face went deathly pale. Merlin threw out an arm to support him as Arthur sunk like a felled tree. Merlin managed to get him to fall on the small cot as Uther and Gaius surged forward. Merlin hadn't noticed Gaius, Gwen, and Morgana standing outside the door, there were simply too many guards in the way. They now made their presences known as Morgana stepped between Uther and Merlin.

Merlin hadn't noticed the knife clearly evident in the King's hand as he had lunged for the warlock. He did notice it when Morgana slid between Merlin and the knife. He shouted and world stopped for a moment. The knife hit a shield of pure light and shattered. Uther looked thunderstruck as he dropped the hilt and staggered backwards.

Merlin didn't hear what Morgana told Uther, didn't hear her tearing him down and rebuilding him just to tear him down again. Merlin was kneeling next to Arthur as Gaius felt his pulse.

"His heart is weak; his body is confused about its state. His brain knows he's alive but his mind never caught up. It still thinks he's dead." Gaius reached for a potion in his bag and motioned for Merlin to hold Arthur's nose closed. It only took a few seconds for Arthur to squirm and open his mouth. Gaius unceremoniously dumped the vial down the man's throat and Arthur swallowed it dutifully. Merlin was panicking. He wasn't waking up.

"Gaius, he's not awake, why won't he open his eyes?" Merlin's voice was strung with tension and he had his hands on either side of Arthur's face. Fever burned and tormented Merlin.

"Merlin," Arthur whispered and for one glorious moment Merlin thought he was awake but he didn't open his eyes, only muttered; "Won't let him, too hot."

Merlin looked at Gaius with determination in his eyes. "I know what to do," he said fiercely and before anyone could stop him he chanted the spell that would save Arthur. He didn't feel anything as his eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped over Arthur's unmoving body.

.…::::…

Merlin opened his eyes to find a world so filled with red that at first it hurt his eyes to look at it at all. He was in the courtyard and there was a large crowd. Merlin turned his head to find that he was lying on the cold paving stones and pushed himself up. Standing carefully, he looked around. There was something at the center of the mass of people. Merlin walked forward and they parted for him impassively until he was standing before them. The mob of people was silent and the only sound that could be heard was from the three guards piling kindling at the base of a platform. The area around it was hazy as Merlin walked forward. It wasn't till he was practically on the platform. _Well, _he thought,_ I don't have to go looking for him._

Arthur was standing on the platform looking down at the firewood. He didn't notice Merlin as he stepped backwards and leant against the pole that rose from the platform. One of the guards stepped onto the platform with a length of rope.

"What are you doing?" Merlin shouted; it was the first sound he'd heard since his eyes had opened in Arthur's mind, and that was most certainly where Merlin was. Arthur's eyes looked at him unseeingly as Merlin ran forward. The guard finished tying Arthur to the pole and stepped off the platform as Merlin unhesitantly jumped onto it. He took Arthur by the shoulders and shook him as much as the bounds would allow him.

"Why are you doing this, Arthur?" He asked frantically. He needed to get Arthur off the platform, to save it. The prince just gazed at him with dead eyes.

"I'm not here, I'm dead. I'm dead." Even Arthur's voice was dead. Merlin shook his head and went to untie the knots binding Arthur to the pole. But they wouldn't come loose. Not for his fingers, not for his magic.

"You're not dead, Arthur, you're alive. Gloriously alive. You have friends and family waiting for you out there. _I'm_ waiting for you out there. _You're not dead!_" he shouted at the uncomprehending man in front of him. The guards surrounded them quietly with the torches, waiting for some unknown signal to light the fire and kill their prince. But it was all in his head, all in Arthur's head. Merlin just had to give Arthur the will to live.

"Arthur, please! You can't die. Who'll fight with Morgana and keep her from saying the wrong thing to Uther and getting tossed away like yesterday's supper? Who'll keep the griffins from killing people and who'll protect the citizens of Camelot from Nimueh?" Merlin spoke as fast as his mouth would allow him, his eyes locked with Arthur's and he could see glimmerings of color in them. Lights that would not go out.

"Who'll keep me from making a mess out of the chain mail? Will? He's dead. Lancelot's gone and Gwen's got other problems. Who'll protect the Toms from Uther? The people he'll blindly blame for the problems he doesn't understand. Who'll whisper how much they love me in my ear after I've been ungodly sick for days? I need you to stay with me, Arthur, can't _live_ without you. You stole my heart over two years ago when you stood up to Valiant and fought and almost died because you couldn't lose. You _had _to fight him, knowing you'd probably die, because you couldn't disappoint your people. What would I be without you, Arthur? I would be dead." Merlin didn't know what else he could say, He didn't know how to put into words the hope and want and need that he had for Arthur. What Camelot had for him.

Merlin looked in Arthur's eyes, saw the dead and the color and the love and knew what he had to do. He knelt and kissed both of Arthur's palms reverently. He stood slowly as the guards in the background found their signals and walked solemnly forward. The guards bent forward to light the pyre as Merlin looked one last time into Arthur's eyes before tipping his head up and kissed him.

Suddenly everything was gone; it was just Merlin and Arthur. It was how it always should be. They leaned into each other and kissed. It was passionate and sincere, silent strength imbued with gentleness only they would ever know. Merlin didn't know how long they hung like that, just the two of them, but when they finally parted a lifetime of emotions and memories existed between them.

_Arthur?_ Merlin thought, sensing something new but as familiar as his own mind in his head. Arthur's eyes widened in shock.

_Can you hear me? _Arthur's voice sounded in his head. It was different from the Arthur he heard in the real world. There was a certain amount of apprehensive fear that—while Merlin knew Arthur did feel them—never showed in his voice. Merlin felt a confusion that was not his own mixed with love and respect.

_Arthur, it's time to go home, _Merlin held out his hand and felt Arthur's warm hand slip reassuringly into it. He squeezed it once and closed his eyes. _Bring us home_, he thought, _bring us home._

….::::….

Merlin woke up in a room he didn't recognize curled into the prince's side. Arthur's arm was slung over Merlin with the warlock's hand clutching at the prince's shirt. There was a candle lit somewhere in the room, but Merlin couldn't see where. He shifted a little and realized that his other hand was firmly grasping Arthur's. It lay between them under the pillows and made the weary man smile.

"I see you've come back around," a voice whispered behind Arthur's shoulder. Merlin sat up a little, never letting go of the sleeping man's shirt or hand. Gaius sat in a chair next to the bed with a bowl on the table next to him. To Merlin's surprise, Uther was in a chair behind the physician's. His back to the bed, Uther kept watch on the door. Or he would have if he was awake. Light snores floated from the king's chair as Gaius stood up and walked around the bed to sit next to his young charge.

"How long have I been out?" was the first question out of Merlin's mouth.

"About a day. Arthur was talking in his sleep. Merlin, he was burning. I couldn't stop his screaming," Gaius' voice faltered and he passed a trembling hand over a weary face. He took a deep breath before continuing. "We tried to cool his fever, but it wouldn't go down. Uther thought you were torturing him and tried to pull you two apart. The thing is, we couldn't." Merlin's eyebrows rose into his hairline.

"What do you mean _couldn't_?" he wondered in awe. What had he done? Gaius smiled ironically.

"Whenever they tried to get near enough to you to pull you apart a shield would spring up. Arthur would calm a little, but when they backed away the shield would go down and Arthur would writhe in pain. Gwen was the one who figured out how to get towards you both." He smiled fondly at that point and patted Merlin's shoulder.

"She saw that Arthur was in pain and ran forward with a bowl of water. If we had good intentions the shields wouldn't go up. We found some friends of Arthur's who did not want to separate you to bring you here. It's a guest room, Uther forbid you to be in Arthur's room," Gaius stopped suddenly as Merlin felt the bed shift. He turned his face and was suddenly about a few centimeters from Arthur's very awake face.

"Arthur," he breathed. Twice in as many days Merlin had had to save him. It was good to see that Arthur was awake and alive and no weakness other than sleepiness showed in his expression. His hand lifted from his grasp on the prince's shirt and lifted to trace his lips and his cheeks. Arthur leaned forward and closed the distance between the two of them.

"Ah hem."

Merlin reluctantly pulled away from a very nice and comforting kiss as Gaius made his presence known. Arthur gave a Royal Glare over Merlin's shoulders, stopped with wide eyes, and flipped over on the bed. The warlock looked at what had caught is attention and felt very, _very_ scared.

Uther was awake.

He didn't say anything as gazed unemotionally at his son and his enemy. He walked forward, clasped Arthur's shoulder, and then strode out the door. Arthur turned back to Merlin, amazement and happiness lighting his eyes. He leaned forward and threw his arm back around Merlin. Their lips met passionately and rejoicingly. They didn't notice Gaius rolling his eyes and sneaking out of the room. When they broke apart they gasped, out of breath and deliriously happy, before throwing themselves back at each other. Maybe things would be alright after all.

They didn't notice that their hands were still firmly clasped together.


End file.
